Fire-escape



, UNITED STATES `PAJFENT OFFICE.

EDWARD' AUGUSTUS ooSTiGAN, or BOSTON, 1 MASSACHUSETTS.

. SPECIFICATION'forining part of Letters :Patent` No. 284,281, dated September 4, 1333.

' c Application filed March 12, 1883. (No mdel.)

- To aLZZ whom it may concern.; 1

Be it known that I, EDWARD AUGUSTUS CosTIGAN, of Boston, inthe county of Suffolk, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvementin `Fire-Escapes for Buildings; and I do hereby .declare the same to `be described in thc following specification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- 4 Figure lis a front elevation. Fig.2, a vertical and transverse section, and Fig. 3 a horizontal section, of a fire-escape of my improved kind applied to the front of a building.

This flre-escapeis composed, mainly, of a longybar and a series of rounds, and one or more platforms arranged with and pivoted to it and the front of the building` in manner and to op- -erate substantially as hereinafter described.

In thedrawings, A denotes the front wall of i, j" 12o a building provided with windows iii the different stories, as shown at ac. Below the windows of the third Story, and each story over it, there is hinged or pivoted to the building one or a series of platforms, B, each coni 2 5 sisting of two sections, b b, connected at their outer edges by rods c, which at their inner ends extend through the sides of the ladderbar C. This ladder-bar C, arranged as shown, has jointed or pivoted to it and the face of the I 3o buildingaseries of rungs, d, which withthe platform or platforms turn upward with the bar when it is drawn upward, and held with it against the face of the building. may be channeled on its inner side, so as, when i 3 5 it may be turned up, -it shall receive within it `and cover the several rounds.` When the ladder is down in` position, as represented in the drawings, 4each of the rungs and each platform is horizontal, or essentially so, thebar being` lAro held in such position by means as hereinafter explained.

\ In case of the building being` on fire, persons can escape from a window to the platform immediately belowit, and from thence by the j .1 145 rungs can descend to the ground.

i `5o at its middle with a ratchet-wheel, F. Ropes The bar f or chains e lead from the windlass to the top ofthe bar, and there is pivoted to the building a lever-pawl, G, to engage with the ratchet-wheel. To the longer arm of the lever-pawl chains ff are applied, -and led in opposite directions horizontally through guides g g, and

thence downward alongside ofthe windows and through other guides, h h, arranged as represented. A person at one of the uppermost Windows can apply `a crank to the windlass and revolve it, so as to draw the fire-escape upward and cause it to fold against the building, upon which he can engage the leverpawl with the ratchet-wheel, so as to prevent the hre-escape from'falling outward anddownward, until a person, bypulling on one of the chains f, moves-the lever-pawl out of engageof the ladder horizontal, the ladder-bar C will be prevented from falling farther by the rod l and the guides h', as the projections of the rod will bring up against the guides, and the rod will be prevented by its chain k from falling. The lateral chains n nare to prevent lateral sway of the ladder.

l Instead of pivoting the rounds to thefront wallof the building, there may bea strip of suitable material let into or fastened to the front wall, and the rounds may be pivoted to such Strip; but when they can conveniently be pivoted to the building, it is generally pref-l erable tohave them so connected therewith. The fire-escape, when in a situation for use,will

at its lower end be at or. about at the height of the first story above the sidewalk or ground in front of the building.` The ladder-bar may be of sufficient length for it to rest on the ground or sidewalk when such barl is down,

lin which case the bar may havea sufficient number of rounds to enable a person` to descend to the Vground or sidewalk; but gener- IOO ally it is preferable to have the bar, when depressed, reach only down to the upper part of the first story of the building, in which case it Will depend on other means, as described, for holding it and the platforms in their proper positions for a person to escape from tliebuilding by them.

My said fire-escape can be constructed at aoted at its front to one ladder-bar only, and

the Whole apparatus relatively to-that shown in said patent is very materially simplified both in combination and operation.

I claim# l. The combination of the rod and its sustaining-chain and projections With the building and with the ladder-bar and the rounds, and one or more platforms arranged with and adapted to the said bar and' the building, as explained, the bar having guides to receive the rod, and all being arranged in manner and to operate substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the lateral chains a a, the rod and its sustaining chain and projections With the ladder-bar, having guides to receive the rod, and also having a series of rounds, and one or more platforms arranged being substantially as set forth.

EDWARD AUGUSTUS 'COS'I'IGANA with and adapted to it and the building, all, 

